Remembrance
by Aynessa
Summary: She was still Asseylum, princess of the Vers Empire and granddaughter of the king. ...but she also remembers Kaori, a vibrant violinist with the fleeting, blazing life of a shooting star.


**Author's Note:** This strangle little crossover drabble is the result of finishing _Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso/Your Lie in April_, and realizing that the voice actor for Kousei Arima is also the voice actor for Inaho Kaizuka, and that both characters' lives and hearts were changed by a vibrant blonde woman who looks at life so very differently than most, and then they both lost that woman who changed them.

Now please excuse me while I go sob in a corner and try to salvage the fractured pieces of my heart, after that last episode of _Your Lie in April_.

**Warning:**** Spoilers for the entire series of _Your Lie in April_, and season 1 of _Aldnoah Zero_.**

* * *

**Remembrance  
**

**by Aynessa  
**

xXx

_"Let us meet again someday_

_As long as we're alive."_

_Continued Story, by Kuroishi Hitomi_

* * *

When a descendant of the royal line of Vers turn 10 years old, their Aldnoah Factor awakens.

Her mother had always warned her, every year, that each person's activated Factor affected them differently. Some are gifted with increased physical capabilities, like her father and his sharp eyesight. Some are cursed with lessened capability, such as poor Lemrina and her failed legs. Some, like her mother, enjoy an increased mental capacity, allowing them to have clearer memories or recall entire treaties, speeches, and songs.

Asseylum vers Allusia..._remembers_.

She remembers the sweet taste of canelé. The shine of golden sunlight on gentle waves. The intense blue of an open sky, laid out endlessly before her eyes.

The clear, yearning notes of a violin. The mournful echo of piano song.

Freedom.

She was still Asseylum, princess of the Vers Empire and granddaughter of the king.

...but she also remembers _Kaori_, a vibrant violinist with the fleeting, blazing life of a shooting star.

* * *

Mars is cold and silent, harsh and unflinching. People cannot venture outside, so they built monuments of steel and concrete to keep themselves safe. The climate is controlled by air conditioning and heat, the lighting unnatural and ruled by a strange combination of electricity and Aldnoah. Life is stagnant here; nothing grows naturally, it is all created and carefully monitored. The people suffer from years of resentment towards that beautiful blue orb, out of reach and cut off by wars of hatred and racism.

It reminds her, somehow, of a hospital.

She yearns for the bright freedom her soul had known, of living under an ever-changing sky, surrounded by green plants and falling pink blossoms. There is hardly anything on this dying planet that reminds her of the life she once lived, the music that filled her days with such color and joy.

Hardly anything at all.

Except the night sky, black and filled with endless stars.

_(Twinkle twinkle little star-)_

* * *

When Eddelrittuo is assigned as her personal maid and assistant, it is hard to greet her as a stranger. Though her hair is lighter, her eyes a dark brown instead of steely blue, Asseylum _knows_ her.

Kind and deeply emotional, easily flustered, with that fierce temper and steadfast loyalty.

How could she not recognize dear Tsubaki?

* * *

Slaine is a complete surprise.

She does not recognize him from her past, the dreams that Aldnoah had given to her. He is an unknown; gentle and sweet, reminding her of all the things she had once loved on Earth (though Asseylum had never, technically, been there). She asks him questions daily, yearning to reach the place in her memories; that planet of gentle blues and greens, piano keys and violin strings. She yearns to know the things she never had time for before.

Why is the sky blue? What makes the plants so green? Why do the seasons change?

Are instruments really made from trees?

* * *

When he finds her, she cannot help but stare.

He is quieter, more stoic and self-confident than she remembers; still that kind and gentle soul, but distant; his former expressive nature tempered by a life of war and little joy. His talented, steady hands have exchanged piano keys for Kataphrakt controls, but he is no less brilliant and artful in their use.

His expression is cold. He does not smile anymore. He is no longer easily embarrassed.

His eyes are not the vibrant, fathomless blue of a deep ocean that she remembers. Instead, they are a dark amber, like the resin she once used to coat the strings of her bow.

But he is Kousei all the same.

"Princess Asseylum, why do you trust him?" Eddelrittuo demands earnestly, eyeing his retreating back in rampant suspicion.

"Well, I just..."

_"__I won't forget, even if I die."_

"...have a feeling."

She smiles.


End file.
